A list of the most common English phrasal verbs

What are phrasal verbs? Also known as compound verbs, these are those verbs that change their meaning when accompanied by an adverb or preposition. This makes it inconvenient to translate them literally.

If you want to speak English like a native, you must learn a lot of phrasal verbs. They’re an inescapable component of English that will enhance your communication skills.

In this article, we invite you to discover our list of the 25 phrasal verbs that are used most often in English. You’re getting so close to your goal of becoming an expert in the language of Shakespeare!


1. Add up

This refers to the action of adding.

We added up the apples. There were 12.

We can also use it to mention that something is meaningful, logical, and makes sense.

Her story doesn’t add up. I think she’s lying.

 

2. Blow up

Little by little, you’ll realise that phrasal verbs enrich the semantics of English exponentially. Each one can have different meanings and uses depending on the context.

Blow up means “explode”, like a bomb, for example. Someone’s temper can also “explode”, meaning that they become quite angry. A third meaning is “to inflate” or “to fill something with air”, like a balloon.

Could you please blow up those balloons?

The building was blown up by a bomb.

When I said I couldn’t go to her party, she blew up.

 

3. Bring up

This means “to nurture”, “to raise”, or “to teach” a child. It implies accompaniment, care, and protection from the earliest stages of life.

Their grandparents brought them up because their parents were always travelling.

It’s also used when someone wants to bring up an event, memory, or comment from the past. This usually happens a lot in marriages, when one spouse makes a criticism, for example: 

Don’t bring up the fight again, please!

 

4. Call off

Do you recall that the words ON/OFF are used for light switches? When off accompanies a verb, it will give that connotation of “reject” or “turn off” to the verb that precedes it.

For example, call off means “to stop doing” or “to stop planning” something.

Maria called off the wedding. She decided she didn’t love him.

We also use it to suggest a person control their animal to stop it from attacking something.

Call off your dog! He’s attacking my cat.

 

5. Carry on

Adding on to a verb gives you a sense of continuity or permanence in time.

Sorry I interrupted, carry on talking…

Carry on may also suggest childish behaviour.

The little boy was carrying on, shouting and kicking all day long.

 

 

6. Come across

You can use this compound verb when you perceive something in particular from a person or situation.

Julia came across as a bit bossy.

It’s also used when you meet someone by chance or by coincidence. Even though it’s been said that nothing in life happens by chance…

Luis was leaving the fruit shop when he came across Tom. What a coincidence!

 

7. Come up with

This is a verb that you might use a lot, especially if you are studying mathematics or trying to build a chair. Come up with means “to find a solution”. What a relief!

We finally came up with a solution to the problem!

 

8. Fall apart

This verb, unlike the previous one, can be used in situations that could be somewhat disappointing. For example, to mention that something has broken, or worse, that a life project, such as a marriage, has dissolved.

My cake fell apart when I tried to cut it.

After the divorce, she fell apart.


 

9. Get along

Wow! This phrasal verb can really mean many different things. Have you ever met someone and felt that immediate connection? That’s the first use of this verb:

We’re not together anymore, but we get along great.

The second meaning is “to progress”:

How are you getting along at playing the guitar?

You can also use it to say, in a very diplomatic and decent way, that you’ve got to leave.

It was lovely to see you, but my friend has to get along. She has a class.

Finally, it means that someone’s getting older.

Her grandma is getting along. She’s almost 99.

 

10. Get away

The word away implies leaving or a distance. We can use get away to say that we want to go out, flee, or even in a symbolic sense, escape the consequences of something.

I can’t wait to get away from the city.

The thieves managed to get away in a stolen car.

Yvonne is always lying. I can’t understand how she gets away with it.

 

 

11. Get over

The word over suggests being above something. For example, when you’re being supportive and tell a friend, “Hey, get over it. Everything will be fine.”

So, get over can be “to overcome a fear”, “to stop worrying about something”, or “to recover from illness”.

I got over my fear of flying.

Kylie finally got over her ex-boyfriend.

Have you heard? Dave has gotten over the flu.

 

12. Give up

This verb can have two interpretations: to throw in the towel or to abandon something.

It’s not always good to surrender in life, we must continue fighting until we achieve our goals.

If you’re talking about a vice, though, it’s quite the opposite. In this case, giving up is the best option.

We all gave up smoking on January 1st.

 

13. Go on

Do you remember when Celine Dion sang “My Heart Will Go On” in Titanic? That is, my heart will continue, it won’t give up.

This also happens when someone is telling you something and you encourage them to continue talking and say, “Go on, go on.”

They landed in Paris and then went on to Montpellier.

Go on! Try it, it’s delicious.

 

14. Hold on

This verb suggests clinging to or holding something for a long time.

Hold on to the railing, that way you won’t fall.

I’ll hold on to my job until May.

 

15. Look after

This is often used in hospitals or nurseries. It means “to care for”.

The nurse looked after the patient for months until he was better.

 

 

 

16. Look forward to

When something excites you and you can’t find the time to do it, you use this verb. If you’re overworked, you can’t wait to go to the beach or to a five-star hotel. What a treat!

William is really looking forward to going on holiday.

 

17. Look up

You can use this to mention that something is improving. It’s also used to say that you’re looking for something in the dictionary or on Google, for example.

The economy is finally looking up.

Let’s look up his number in the yellow pages.

 

18. Make out

Make out isn’t just kissing your partner romantically. It can also be writing a cheque or trying to understand what someone is saying.

Have you ever watched a movie in English and couldn’t understand a single word? Well, that’s completely normal. Keep practicing and eventually, you’ll be able to make out more vocabulary.

Who shall I make the cheque out to?

I can’t make out what you’re saying. Can you speak louder?

We made out in the back of his car.

 

19. Pass out

Have you ever fainted? This can happen if you neglect your diet, exercise excessively, or even have a major scare.

Losing consciousness isn’t a fun experience, but if it happens to you in an English-speaking country, at least you’ll know how to explain to the doctor what’s happened.

It also means “to deliver” things like merchandise or products.

Lisa was so tired that she got home and passed out on the sofa.

I passed out leaflets with information on our course.

 

20. Pull over

This scene is often repeated in films: a police officer is following a suspicious vehicle that has exceeded the speed limit. Incidentally, the driver has no documents or has something hidden in the trunk of their car. The police officer yells “Pull over!” meaning to stop the vehicle on the side of the road. 

Does the police officer uncover what’s hidden in the vehicle? Wait for the next episode to find out.

That looks like a lovely restaurant. Can you pull the car over and park?

 

21. Put down

If the scene from the previous film gets complicated, the suspect may try to pull out a gun. What might the police officer say? “Put that down!”

This also means putting something on the floor, writing something on paper, or making a deposit.

You can put the suitcases down in the bedroom.

He put down his memories to write a book when he was older.

My husband and I are going to put down some money to buy that house downtown.

It may also be used when you euthanise an animal, especially at the vet.

Jessica had to have her rabbit put down. It was very sick.

 

22. Put off

One of our main defects can definitely be that of procrastination. Put off means “to cancel” or “to postpone”.

Another meaning is to discourage or make you not want something.

Graham was so tired he put the shopping off until next week.

You’re putting me off my food. Stop talking about insects!

 

23. Put up with

There are sometimes unbearable situations or people who drive us crazy and test our resilience like city traffic, obnoxious people, or a fly in your soup.

You decide how far you can put up with these things, that is, if you tolerate or resist them. The important thing is that you don’t lose your temper or lose control.

My mother won’t put up with my sisters or me swearing.

 

24. Turn up

There is a party starting in your home. What’s the first thing you do? Turn up the volume.

Then a person appears that you haven’t seen for a long time. She turned up at the party.

We can also use it to mention that we found something after an exhaustive search…which is usually the TV remote control.

Oh! My phone turned up in my bed!

As always, Julian turned up late.

Please turn the music up, I love this song!

 

25. Watch out

We can use this compound verb to warn someone of a danger on the spot.

For example, if there’s a gap in the road or something is falling, you can simply say, “Watch out!” You can also warn someone using a more elaborate sentence like:

Watch out in the mountains; there are bears there!

 

 

 

That’s enough, right? These are only a small fraction of all the phrasal verbs that exist in English. By learning and improving your phrasal verbs, you’ll become a student with effective and efficient communication.

Remember you can’t interpret phrasal verbs literally, but you can use either the context or a dictionary to deduce what they mean.

We hope that you’ve learned a lot. If you want to improve your English, follow our journal, download the app, or sign up for our online English course.

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150 comments

  1. Thank you very much I ll use it in my daily conversation until pass away.

  2. awesome just wish it were easier to print, some of my students don’t have internet access in their communities

    • Hi Jorge,

      Thanks for your feedback. Why don’t you copy and paste it into a word document for your students?

      Thanks

  3. awesome just wish it were easier to print, some of my students don’t have internet access in their communities

  4. Hi Kate..this curation of yours is and will remain so very useful to non-native speakers and for their posterity. Currently, I am getting along well with Phrasal Verbs. Thanks to your post. I am looking forward to following you up on twitter. Now being so obsessed with your style of writing, I guess now I have the prerogative to ask you for more. Please post a new write-up on the “Top 25 Idioms”. Hope you will carry on your beautiful work for many many years. With great regards, I am Rahul Verma from India.

    • George Talbot

      Hi Rahul,

      Thank you very much for your comment. Keep an eye on the blog in the near future for more posts on phrasal verbs 🙂

  5. Hi Kate..this curation of yours is and will remain so very useful to non-native speakers and for their posterity. Currently, I am getting along well with Phrasal Verbs. Thanks to your post. I am looking forward to following you up on twitter. Now being so obsessed with your style of writing, I guess now I have the prerogative to ask you for more. Please post a new write-up on the “Top 25 Idioms”. Hope you will carry on your beautiful work for many many years. With great regards, I am Rahul Verma from India.

    • George Talbot

      Hi Rahul,

      Thank you very much for your comment. Keep an eye on the blog in the near future for more posts on phrasal verbs 🙂

  6. thanks for the phrasal verb it really helped in my assignme

    • George Talbot

      Hi!

      We are glad it really helped you. Don’t hesitate to ask us if you have any more questions. 🙂

  7. thanks for the phrasal verb it really helped in my assignme

    • George Talbot

      Hi!

      We are glad it really helped you. Don’t hesitate to ask us if you have any more questions. 🙂

  8. Thank you soooo much! Since I was a young woman I have tried to learn English. Today, as a 55 years-old woman and having become american citizen I finally found an English course that fit me like never before. I’d like also to become a good registered nurse ang get involved in medical field, so I really thank to ABA for its help. God bless you all.

    • George Talbot

      Hey,

      Thanks for your comment. Everyone at ABA is glad that this course has really helped you and has been great for your needs. Keep up the good work and good luck with your studies in the medical field 🙂

  9. Thank you soooo much! Since I was a young woman I have tried to learn English. Today, as a 55 years-old woman and having become american citizen I finally found an English course that fit me like never before. I’d like also to become a good registered nurse ang get involved in medical field, so I really thank to ABA for its help. God bless you all.

    • George Talbot

      Hey,

      Thanks for your comment. Everyone at ABA is glad that this course has really helped you and has been great for your needs. Keep up the good work and good luck with your studies in the medical field 🙂

  10. Thank you guys for your effort. I have a question, Turn up and Show up are they the same?

    • George Talbot

      Hi Yakup,

      Thanks very much for your question. In the sense of “arriving” then they mean the same. They also have other meanings.

      Turn up can also mean “to increase” and show up can also mean “to appear”.

      Thanks again 🙂

  11. Thank you guys for your effort. I have a question, Turn up and Show up are they the same?

    • George Talbot

      Hi Yakup,

      Thanks very much for your question. In the sense of “arriving” then they mean the same. They also have other meanings.

      Turn up can also mean “to increase” and show up can also mean “to appear”.

      Thanks again 🙂

  12. hi, can i more exercise on phrasal verbs to make my high school students practice like if is say it is dark, their response using phrasal verb would be -turn on lights

  13. Thanks a lot. I’m gonna use it for my exam tomorrow!

  14. Thanks a lot!

  15. Hi Yakup! how’re things? I appreciate the work you’ve done on phrasal verbs! I really love phrasal verbs. They soud more natural. Could you please keep sending them to me to my email? Thumbs up!

  16. than you so much

  17. Helped a lot for my exam thank you aba english……. ??

  18. Thank you for this list to get my students stuck into phrasal verbs. I teach EFL whilst living in Spain and also manage a website where I organise trips to the UK for immersion courses in the home of their teacher. This will be useful for my teachers too, especially if they are new to EFL teaching. Have you created any exercises with these same verbs? If not I will make some and share with you if you are interested.

  19. Hello! Abc family. there is an example in pharal verb no. 25 ” watch out in the mountain,there are bears there! ” here are two ‘there’ is this correct or if we didn’t write the last one its meaning will be change?? Please clear me.

    • George

      Hey, this example is correct.

      “There are” is emphasising the quantity of bears, in other words, more than 1. The second “there” is referring to location, in other words, the place where the bears are.

      We hope that this is clear.

  20. I need to make a citation of this web page and the author, but I cant find the name or year for the reference or quote. Can somebody help me? plis Btw very good list.

    • George

      Hi,

      The author is Kate Estivill whose bio is at the bottom of the article. The article was published on the 3rd July 2017. Please just make sure you cite us if you have used our article as a source.

      Many thanks.

  21. Thanks.. It’s of great help to me…